The Nebuly Coat · Chapter
VIII explained
Miss Joliffe recounts Lord Blandamer's visit to Bellevue Lodge, describing him as affable and condescending.
What happens
Miss Joliffe recounts Lord Blandamer's visit to Bellevue Lodge, describing him as affable and condescending. Anastasia listens silently, her cheeks red. Later, Westray and Mr. Sharnall criticize Lord Blandamer for his stinginess and poor reputation, while Anastasia grows increasingly distressed. Only Miss Euphemia Joliffe speaks well of him after waking from a nap.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Ambition
Miss Joliffe's exaggerated praise of Lord Blandamer's 'condescension' highlights the social deference and class aspirations of the period.
Secrecy and Identity
Anastasia's hidden feelings for Lord Blandamer and the contrast between his public affability and private reputation suggest layers of concealed identity.
Characters to notice
- Miss Anastasia Joliffe
Waits anxiously in the kitchen during Lord Blandamer's visit, later becomes upset and defensive when Westray and Sharnall criticize him.
- Miss Euphemia Joliffe
Narrates Lord Blandamer's visit with effusive praise; later wakes from a nap and speaks well of him.
- Lord Blandamer
Visits Bellevue Lodge, is polite and considerate to Miss Joliffe, but is later criticized by Westray and Sharnall for being miserly and having a bad reputation.
- Mr. Westray
Returns from the church and joins Sharnall in criticizing Lord Blandamer for not contributing financially to the church restoration.
- Mr. Sharnall
Bitterly criticizes Lord Blandamer, recounting a past incident where Blandamer stopped a cheque; observes Anastasia's distress.
Key passages
“It is always the way with these really great people, my dear. I have always noticed that the nobility are condescending; they adapt themselves so entirely to their surroundings.”
Miss Joliffe claims that the nobility are naturally gracious and adapt to their environment, though she has little experience with them.
Highlights Miss Joliffe's naive class-based assumptions.
“He is a chip of the old block. Leap year's February twenty-nine days, And on the thirtieth Blandamer pays.”
Sharnall uses a local saying to imply that the Blandamers are notoriously slow to pay their debts.
Reflects the town's cynical view of the Blandamer family's stinginess.
“He takes after his grandfather in other ways besides close-fistedness. The old man had a bad enough name with women, and this man has a worse.”
Sharnall accuses Lord Blandamer of inheriting his grandfather's reputation for mistreating women.
Reveals the darker gossip surrounding Lord Blandamer's character.